


Spray Cans and Fire Escapes

by galactic_coffee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood that's actually paint, Eren is blunt as a basketball, Everyone swears like sailors, Levi is a goth because why not, Multi, graffiti artist au, street art au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2017-12-28 00:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galactic_coffee/pseuds/galactic_coffee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doodles in margins could never amount to much, or so says that brat downstairs who won't turn down the goddamn music and crawls home, up the fire escape, battered and bruised more days than not.<br/>At the same time, Eren can't imagine who the street artist Corporal could be, behind the veils of winged paintings and tags. He also can't help but be inspired by him.</p><p>
  <b>DISCONTINUED - EXPLANATION IN LAST CHAPTER</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hola, this is my first work for the fandom so I'm really hoping I'll do the characters some amount of justice. Huge thank you to my dear Gabi and Nollaig for looking over this and making sure it was alright.
> 
> As we go along I'd really appreciate if you lot told me if I need to put up trigger warnings for anything or any more tags, because I won't be sure of what to mention myself. I hope you enjoy this to some extent and I'll start work on chapter two right away, have a fab day/night/thing~

Another burst lip, another pissy teacher and another note home that had nowhere to go. Eren could have screamed, absolutely screamed and roared until his throat hurt, but what little self-control he had left went towards stopping that. The rain pounding against his nose helped a little too, in that sort of dramatic way only a teenager could achieve. 

He breathed in and out slowly like Mikasa had shown him, so his breathing wouldn't go array. He realised his dark hoodie was more of a sponge than anything else, as the rain began whipping his arms and he began to run. Walking along the river bank was a good short-cut home but there was no shelter until he got himself under the bridge, where the elements might ease up on him. The sheets of water obscuring his vision made sure he didn't know what was in front of him until he'd reached the shelter of the wide concrete bridge. 

Ripping the hood from his head and sitting on the ledge of the pathway he took the water-logged note from his pocket and tossed it into the river. It was pretty damn pointless anyway. He wanted to punch the concrete he was sitting on, then the wall across from him, then his principal's face, then the dick who'd insulted his friend, then the wall again for good measure. Then he changed his mind when the hateful glare he'd cast on the wall turned to wide-eyed wonder.  

A huge pair of wings, one black, one white, spread across the wall, spray-painted in immaculate detail, down to every last feather, but in such a _stylised_ way. Eren never was good with his words, he didn't use them often enough to be, no, he was much more well-versed in the language of fists. He wished he could describe this though, he stood to walk over and take a closer look, to brush the wall lightly with his fingers. Bright and wide green eyes roved the work in awe, finally stopping at where the artist had signed their work as "Corporal". 

He'd forgotten why he was angry and allowed himself a small smile for it before yanking his hood as far over his face as possible and sprinting the rest of the way home. 

The steps were taken two at a time by water damaged sneakers until he reached his floor and let himself into his and his sister's one bedroom apartment. He entered his bedroom straight away, technically, and plopped down on his sofa-slash-bed. 

"How was your day?" Mikasa asked from the kitchenette, tossing a towel over his head.   
"Decent," he replied, though it was muffled by the rough towel. He left it there though, to hide the burst lip. "Hey, Mikasa?" he asked through the towel.   
"Yes, Eren?" she spoke in a calm tone. Nearly monotonous.   
"You're artsy and shit, right?"  
"Well, I'm studying art."  
"Do you know who Corporal is?" Eren's towel-face was a hopeful one as he pleaded with Mikasa through coarse cotton. 

"He's a street artist," she told him, taking matters into her own hands and toweling his hair dry for him. "Kind of a dick."  
"You've met him?" Eren asked.   
"My visual communications teacher complains about him a lot," Mikasa threw spare clothes at Eren and told him to change before he got a cold. She was forever telling him what to do, early acceptance to art college didn't make her more mature than him, he'd tell her. She would tell him that's not why she was more mature. 

"Why so curious?" Mikasa raised an eyebrow at Eren as he began changing with the towel still over his head. She reached over to take it off of him. "You're not marrying the towel king, you don't need a vei-Eren, what did you do?!"  
"Shit!" he squeeled, only one leg in his pants when Mikasa came hopping over the sofa to him, holding his face and nearly toppling him over. "It's nothing! I'm fine!"

"I never should have left you alone in school, I never should have gone to college early, Eren I'm so sorry," she was babbling now and Eren pushed her away by her face.   
"I'm fine," he said. "Some fucker was bothering Armin." Mikasa sighed and let him go, giving him a knowing look.   
"Eren, they'll kick you out," she said.   
"But it's not fair!" he told her. "I got in trouble and the other guy got away scott-fuckin'-free!"

"Life isn't fair, Eren," she wrapped her arms around him. "You know that." He hugged her back, knowing it was more to comfort her than him.

Eventually they sat back on the sofa, watching DVDs on Mikasa's laptop, because damn TVs were expensive. When Mikasa finally dozed off against the armrest, Eren took the little notebook onto his lap and opened a search engine, typing in Corporal, only to be met with pictures of military officers and swearing quietly. If he wanted to see more of his work, he'd have to go scout it out himself. 

Eren closed the laptop and rose from the sofa, stretching, before pulling the throw from the back of the sofa over Mikasa. Shrugging into a deep red hoodie, Eren moved to the small window, slipping out onto the rusted old fourth story fire escape. He climbed down the ladders, covering his hands with the sleeves of his hoodie until he dropped down into the alley below. By now it was probably almost midnight, if not after and the night had a cutting chill to it, but at least the rain had stopped. 

Eren lit a cigarette and began walking aimlessly around the streets of Trost, not quite knowing where to find more of Corporal's art. It turned out not to be too difficult at all. Most of it was remarkably high up, almost too high to see clearly in the dark, on the sides of buildings or on bridges. Every piece featured wings, every single one. Eren continued his ambling, finding the work of other artists as well. He took everything in with wide green eyes, he probably looked like a tourist he thought to himself with a small smile. The time didn't occur to him until he was down half a pack of cigarettes, and he decided it was time to turn back. Then a white patch of wall at the side of a newsagents caught his eye and he took a marker from his pocket, probably having left it there from school. What he left was nothing to be too proud of, just one of the little characters from his maths copy, Mikasa was the artistic one, really. Despite that, he allowed himself a proud grin and signed it -Jeager. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeere's Levi! Would you believe I actually had half of this written before chapter one? Hahaha, how do brain work words make do?

What possessed him? He didn't know, but the only answer could be that he was possessed. There's no other reason for it. There's no way he could have chosen pointillism for an A1 piece. Levi hated himself, his possessed hands, his stupidity, hated the twitch that started in his left eye about two hours ago. The only things Levi loved anymore were coffee and cigarettes anyway, but all the same, he loathed whatever demon had possessed him and told him art was a good idea for a hobby in the first place. Something was seriously wrong with the man, he took another sip of coffee to find it was paint. He hadn't even been painting. 

Levi looked at the mess on his desk and began cleaning, refusing to succumb to the heaviness of his eyelids until the shitty little desk fucking sparkled. He grumbled to himself as he scrubbed the ink from the smooth wood until he could see his reflection, right down the bags under his eyes. With a yawn he stretched, shuffling his way to his bed, enveloping himself in soft covers, closing his eyes, drifting slowly to sleep. 

"Do you have any clue how worried I was?!" a door slams as abruptly as Levi's eyes shoot open and he resigns himself to another night of muffled lullabies in the form of domestic rows downstairs.   
"You don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself!" a boy screamed at the girl.   
"You obviously can't! Look at you-" she cut off then, speaking too quietly for Levi to hear through the thin floorboards. He wasn't curious, no, all he wanted was sleep, except it wasn't, because all he wanted was a fag. Then sleep. 

Levi dragged himself out of his cosy cocoon and tugged on the first pair of boots he saw before sliding out the window and onto the fire escape. Soft German swears rose to meet him and he ignored it, not understanding what wasn't obvious. Levi finished his cigarette slowly and tossed it over the filthy fire escape railing. 

"Fick!" it wasn't a mutter this time, in fact, Levi would have called it a girlish squeal. He looked down to see a young boy, maybe eighteen glare up at him through the barred walkway of the fire escape, his own cigarette in hand.   
"Sorry," Levi said plainly, reentering his apartment. 

"Oi!" Eren called after the man, fully intending to give him an earful, but he was gone and Eren wasn't about to have breaking and entering on his record for the sake of an accidental cigarette burn. He sighed and finished his own cigarette before tossing it to the alley below, checking for people first just so he wouldn't feel like a hypocrite. That was the first time he'd seen his neighbour, which wasn't a surprise considering how often he used the fire escape rather than the stairs. He slipped in through the window and made a bee line for his sofa-bed, mumbling about his disdain for people in general. 

The air was getting sharper, Levi noticed it on his way home the next night, his softly pointed nose turning a cherry red, the only colour in the bleak wintry city streets. Entering the building was a godsend, even if their landlord didn't quite understand the concept of heating. He sunk down into his pea coat and hoped he wouldn't meet anyone on the stairs. Of course, he did meet his neighbours and of course he didn't make eye contact, he was still tired after his 3am art escapades. Reaching his own apartment and his shitty heater was bliss as he passed through the apartment to his fire escape. The rust gave him good grip in the icy weather he had to admit, as he lit up. The only filth he would ever approve of, was the filth these little white sticks dumped in his lungs. It was the only time filth and serenity could possibly go hand in hand. 

A few clops, clanks and curses later, and Levi's peace was shattered by the boy below him arguing with a window in German. He was obviously frustrated, thumping the glass with his hands and cursing it angrily.    
"Oi, brat," Levi called, looking down through the slim metal bars at the brown haired boy "Why the racket, need a shit that bad?"  
The boy's bright green eyes looked up at him, incredulous.   
"Did you seriously just ask me that?"  
Levi simply raised an eyebrow in response.   
"If you're that curious, I forgot my key and my sister's out with friends," he growled at the window. Levi sighed, seeing his own breath before him and noticing the boy below him shaking in nothing but a t-shirt and jeans. He sighed again, he was much too wonderful a person for this world. 

"Oi, shit-for-brains," Levi dragged the kid's attention away from the window. "You can wait up here until she comes back."  
"What?"  
"Don't make me change my mind," Levi opened the window and climbed through, motioning for the kid to follow. He turned on the shitty heater and the kettle. He needed coffee.   
"Thanks," the boy ducked into the apartment, taking in his surroundings with wide eyes. "I'm Eren, by the way," he said, looking around the tiny room at it's single sofa and kitchenette and the perfectly stacked canvases in the corner. The place was spotless, so spick and span that Eren wasn't sure he should sit down. So he stood and tried to look like he made a hobby out of standing. 

"Levi," the man said.   
"Uh, no, Wrangler-"  
"My name," the man threw a dead look over his shoulder. "My name is Levi."  
Eren nodded jerkily, assessing the man as he turned back to the coffee mugs before him. He looked long and short at the same time and Eren couldn't quite place why, it could have been the grace in his movements or the way his jeans _clung_ to his legs.   
"How do you take your coffee?" Levi asked.   
"Is half eleven really the time for coffee?" Eren raised an eyebrow at him.   
"It is always the time for coffee," Levi retorted. "Unless it's time for alcohol."  
"Two sugars, then," Eren said and took the mug that was handed to him.   
"Don't put it down anywhere without a coaster," Levi eyed him dangerously. 

He sat down on the couch and crossed his legs and Eren noticed the creepers he was wearing.   
"Platforms," he said redundantly.   
"If you say one more word I will castrate you," Levi said, not even looking at him, in fact his eyes were closed, his expression serene. Eren sipped his coffee, not sitting down. He hadn't actually moved at all from his standing spot. _Eren, you look like a dope!_ he told himself. _And this man is wearing enough rings to take your eye out with one punch._

"So, are you one of those goths or something?" Eren asked, suffering from momentary verbal diarrhea, and realising it all too late. Levi let his eyes wander slowly up to the kid. Eren's eyes were wide in shock at himself, but the comment held none of the malice it might have had coming from anyone else.   
"Sure," he replied eventually and left it at that. Eren nodded at him and sipped his coffee again. He swayed where he stood, feeling the caffeine at work in his system, how strong was this stuff?

"I didn't poison it," Levi said, noticing the look Eren was giving the mug. He himself held his mug strangely, Eren noticed, with his fingers gripping the rim, drinking from the space between his thumb and forefinger. He was tempted to try it himself, but decided he'd rather not smash a mug and ruin Levi's immaculate carpet. 

"You're allowed to sit down," Levi said, shocking Eren out of his thoughts with a little jump. He sat down on the sofa beside Levi, relaxing back gingerly. Why the hell did this short stock have so much authority over him? He couldn't have been more than two-foot and looked about twelve. Well, that was a lie, his face looked young, but his eyes looked like they'd seen eighty years or more and was he wearing eyeliner? He was really clean too, Eren could smell soap, and his hair was really shiny, parted just off centre. He was seriously stand offish though, like "Welcome to my home, here's a coffee, bee-tee-dubs, might castrate you if you talk."

Levi glanced over casually at Eren's face as it betrayed him, leaving him an open book that Levi had great fun reading.   
"Are you constipated?" he asked, finishing off his drink. "You look constipated."  
"What?" Eren asked, snapping out of his thoughts again at Levi's words. Levi snorted, standing and taking his and Eren's empty cups to the sink to wash.   
"When will your girlfrie-"  
"Sister."  
-nd be home?" Levi asked, ignoring Eren.   
"I couldn't say, she thinks I have my key so she won't be in a rush," Eren shrugged, finally sinking down into the sofa, less tense with Levi across the room.   
"I'll need to go out soon, so if she's not back by then I'll have to dump you back outside," Levi leaned back against the counter as he dried his hands.

As if on cue, Mikasa's voice was heard through the floorboards.   
"Speak of the devil," Levi said.   
"Shit, can you hear everything up here?" Eren asked, staring at the floor wide-eyed.   
"No," Levi lied. "Now go on, your sister'll worry."  
"Oh, yeah!" Eren nodded, heading towards the window. "Thanks, Levi!"   
"Yeah, no problem, brat," Levi inclined his head towards the boy before he slipped out the window, shutting it tight behind him and waving, before disappearing down the crusty old ladder. 

Mikasa was pacing the living room when he tapped the window, smiling apologetically through the glass, he could see the relief on her face as she unlocked the window.   
"I forgot my key," Eren climbed in the window. "So, Levi, the guy upstairs, he let me in until you got home."  
Mikasa smacked the side of his head.   
"That's for forgetting your key!" she said. Eren scowled at her and dropped onto the couch.   
"Is he nice?" she asked finally, trying to make conversation.   
"I dunno," Eren cocked his head to the side. "He was a jerk, but he gave me coffee, so I don't know."

Mikasa sighed, she should have figured all it would take to win her brother over was a coffee. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave your thoughts, feedback and constructive criticism make me a happy camper <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this and then I was gonna ask my friend to beta it, but I fell asleep. I'm amazing, I know.
> 
> Anyway, I was too eager to get it posted so this is unbeta'd, but I've read over it a few times so I hope it's alright! Also, I'm not entirely sure if parasailing with tow-ropes is entirely possible, but oh well, it's fiction.

Levi's mother used to call him a monkey, he had a tendency to find the tallest thing he could and scale it, be it the kitchen cabinets, trees or his mother herself. "If he doesn't grow up tall," she'd told their neighbour once. "If he doesn't, it'll be a crime, he's too used to being high up, it's like he belongs at a height!"

Levi crinkled his nose at the memory as he fastened the tow ropes to his waist. He stood at the top of an apartment building, not his own. Something a little more up-class, which wasn't difficult really. He lifted a cigarette to his lips as he crouched to sort his spray cans, making sure everything was in order in his black messenger bag before he took the other end of his tow rope and fastened it to the bolts keeping the gutter in place. He tossed his cigarette before pulling a bandana up over his nose and gripping the cable tightly as he backed over the edge of the building, feeding the rope back as he edged himself down the wall. 

Levi began his work under the veil of night, with a melodramatic mindset. The plan was to make the wall look less filthy, cover up the water marks and shitty graffiti. The wall was an eyesore and Levi had been stuck staring at it for _weeks_. He sidestepped across the wall filling in what space he could reach with patterns and curls, all in black and white. He worked in his usual angular lines, framed thickly and cleanly. Then added deep red to the shadows with a few flicks of his wrist. All it was was patterns, neat and precise and they covered up that god-awful filth, thank the heavens. 

Putting away the red can, Levi hoisted himself up, collecting the tow-rope as he went and finally hauling himself over the edge of the building. He ripped the bandana away from his face and the air he took in was cool again, compared to the sauna behind the cloth. Collecting his equipment, Levi swapped his loose black hoody for a deep red one, before crossing the rooftop and taking the fire escape down to the footpath. 

It was another cold November night and as Levi walked the deserted suburban streets with himself for company, while at home, downstairs from his empty apartment, Eren lay awake, staring at the ceiling, then at his phone, which politely informed him that it was almost five in the morning and damn, Eren thought, he needed to start waking up before three in the day. Something inexplicable sparked in his mind and he sat up suddenly, and in his excitement, fell off the sofa, scrambling to his feet to find paper and pens, pencils, anything, charcoal! That would do! He knew Mikasa wouldn't mind him using one piece if he used it seriously. 

He sat back down on the tattered green couch with his legs crossed and started sketching, taking the little doodles from his maths copy and trying to make sense of them, turning doodles to pictures and ideas into stories. All of this was happening on one little page and Eren grinned at the paper, full of a determination you could only unlock with passion. 

Next thing Eren knew, Mikasa was nudging him awake and it was Monday morning.   
"Coffee?" she asked, handing it to him before he could answer. He smiled dozily at her.   
"I didn't sleep too good," he said, drinking the coffee like it was his life line.   
"You drew good though," Mikasa smiled back at him, sitting on the armrest. She leaned over to the cluttered coffee table and picked up a page, holding it out to Eren.   
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, sorry I used your stuff."  
"No!" Mikasa said. "No way, these are adorable. Go ahead, what am I gonna say? Don't do art? Wouldn't that be a bit hypocritical?"  
Eren laughed and downed his coffee before getting up. "A little bit, maybe," he stretched, then rummaged around under the coffee table for some clean clothes. 

"Do you own anything but jeans and t-shirts?" Mikasa asked.   
"Is there anything but jeans and t-shirts?" Eren asked seriously. Mikasa rolled her eyes and walked over to the kitchette, tossing him a banana and hitting him square on the forehead as his head popped out of a hoody.   
"Eat before school today, okay?" she gave him the motherly look and he scrunched his face up at her. She responded in kind before grabbing an apple for herself. Eren picked up the banana, trying not to laugh because, well, it's a _banana_ , then headed off to school, waving at Mikasa where she sat on the cluttered island-counter. 

Using the regular stairs of the apartment building was an almost alien concept to him, but with so little sleep, Eren couldn't trust himself to make his way down the ladders in one piece, he'd rather take the longer route and live. Another cuttingly cold day called for Eren yanking his deep green hood so far over his head he could just about see his feet. If the river bank wasn't flooded he'd take that route to school, that way he'd get to see the picture again. His ears pricked as he realised where he was, so close to the newsagents where he'd doodled his little piece. A two-minute detour wouldn't hurt his schedule, he thought, hiking up his low-slung schoolbag and taking a right down the side street. 

There it was, by some wonder it hadn't worn away. He grinned at it like a mad man, his little act of vandalism. It made him feel like more of a badass than it probably should have. Until he saw it, the little character beside his own, he'd been too blinded by his child like glee to notice. Beside his little figure, with it's messy long hair, pac-man shaped head and pointed teeth, was a little humanoid form with two swords and a speech bubble. 

"Bring it on, bitch! -Corporal"

Eren stood wide-eyed. Dude. Without a second thought he pulled the same marker from his pocket and started drawing, he'd thought of something last night and honestly, showing it off somewhere illegal felt awesome. A million levels of awesome. When he left, below the previous collaboration was Eren's little character, ripping Corporal's head off with his pointy little teeth, in a manner too cartoonist to be entirely gruesome. 

"Brought it to breakfast, bitch! -Jeager"

And so, Eren was off to school, on cloud nine. That is, until he closed his locker door, only to be greeted by a motherfucker with a horse face and a shit-eating grin that, to Eren, was red to a bull.   
"So, Jägermeister, that sister of yours," he leaned against the lockers, crossing his arms and legs. Fucking pretzel horse.   
"Fuck off, Jean," Eren growled through gritted teeth. He pinched the bridge of his nose. What was a good mood again?

"Eren!" he whined. "C'mon, put in a good word for me! I'm a great guy, you shouldn't even need to."  
"Look, Jean," Eren wanted to nip this in the bud before he bent Jean's nose the other way. "She already knows you, if Mikasa was in any way interested, she would have said so a long time ago and if you knew anything about her, you'd know that."  
"Of course I know about her!" he stood straighter now, a more defensive position. "She's got black hair and dark eyes and a nice-"  
"A nice what?" Eren growled again.   
"A nice ass," Jean growled back and Eren punched him once, square in the nose, before turning around and walking away before a teacher heard Jean's curses. 

Eren walked to class with a face sour enough to part the sea of students and let him through, no questions asked.   
"Eren?" his friend's blonde-bobbed head shot up from his work as Eren sat down beside him.   
"Jean."  
"Ah."  
"Yeah," Eren sighed and took out his maths copy, which by now was more of a sketchbook.   
"How was your weekend?" Armin asked, watching Eren's little character come to life on the page.   
"Weird," Eren said. "I met my upstairs neighbour."  
"How's that weird?"  
"I can't decide if he's a dick or not," Eren sat back, staring quizzically at the wall, as if the all-knowing light green expanse could tell him. It couldn't.   
"Well, what makes you think he's a dick?" Armin asked.   
"He told me he'd castrate me if I talked about his platforms, probably 'cause he's short," Eren returned to his doodles.   
"Wow," Armin's eyebrows disappeared behind his fringe as they rose."What makes him maybe not a dick, then?"  
"He gave me coffee," Eren said plainly, and if the teacher's arrival hadn't interrupted him, Armin would have said it was typical. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, any criticism is met with an open mind. Much much love <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't feel like this story is flowing well, but I'm trying to improve on that~  
> Anyway, yeah, here's a chapter!

It was the first Saturday afternoon Levi had been awake to see in a long time. Not knowing what to do with himself within the warm confines of his apartment, he stood out on the fire escape for a smoke, maybe even some inspiration for boredom-relief.

A weeks worth of rain had meant the only art he'd be doing this week was legal unless he went for defacing public transport. With a flick of his cigarette Levi told himself he'd never sink to something so filthy. He leaned over the edge of the railing, all of his weight on his forearms as he watched the alley below with a lazy gaze. 

It looked like someone was getting a beating and Levi sighed at the normalcy of it all and looked up to the cold grey sky. He needed to make some actual money and get the fuck out of here. He was sick of living between drug dealers and druggies, sick of smoking to the soundtrack of shady deals and beatings. 

The current track had ended with a loud "If I see you back here you're dead!" and Levi looked down to see who had won with a mild interest. All that was left was a messy haired boy, limping towards the fire escape ladder. He moved slowly, climbing the first ladder and pausing to put pressure on his side before tackling the next climb. It was downstairs neighbour kid, Ellen was it? No, Levi told himself, that's a girl's name. 

"Oi," Levi called down once the boy had reached his own floor. "What's your name again?" The kid looked up at him incredulously.   
"Eren?" he said, agitated.   
"Relax," Levi said, bringing the cigarette to his mouth again. "It's only a name."  
"I remembered your name!" the kid was giving out now and Levi could only sigh.   
"Oh yeah?"  
"Levi."  
Levi let out a breath of a laugh. "I'll mail you your medal."  
"Fuck off!" 

Levi crouched down and took the packet of cigarettes from his back pocket, lowering his hand carefully between the metal struts towards Eren. "You sound like you need one," he said, disinterest betraying his consideration. Eren took one begrudgingly and lit it with his own lighter. Levi finished his own and went back inside without another word. 

Eren let him go, reveling in his first legal cigarette in a year. There was a warning tap on the window behind him before Mikasa came out to meet him.   
"Eren!" she said on lieu of greeting. "You're a mess!"  
"Yup," Eren didn't even bother denying it.   
"Another fight?" she asked, leaning against the railing beside him. He nodded.   
"This kid was being beat up and it was two on one," Eren said. "Not very fair." Mikasa sighed and nudged his arm with her elbow.   
"You can't fix the world."  
"Not all of it."

Mikasa rolled her eyes and left Eren to his brooding, climbing down the ladders and heading to work. She didn't have time to patch him up today. Eren waved her goodbye and went inside for a cup of coffee and maybe if he was bothered, he might even do some homework. 

For Eren, homework involved loud music and absolutely no homework at all. He lay back on the couch with his piping hot mug and considered his place in the universe. It was here, definitely here. With caffeine, assaulting guitar solos and Levi's angry face at the window. 

Wait, shit.

Eren put his mug down and lowered the volume of the laptop before approaching the window like one might approach a grizzly bear. He opened it carefully and before he could speak, Levi launched into complaint. 

"Do you have any fucking consideration for people?" he growled out. "I'm trying to get a measly hour of fucking sleep and you're here pumping the fucking tunes with your fucking Rammstein or whatever you German kids listen to!"

"It's five in the fucking evening!" Eren yelled back. "Who the fuck sleeps at five in the evening? How was I supposed to fucking know?! Y'know, if you tried asking nicely or some shit, I would have turned it down, no problem. But no, you just had to come down here with your self-entitled bullshit and tell me what to do. No dice!"

"Who the fuck pissed in your cereal?" Levi spat.   
"Some fucking goth chick with a penis," Eren looked Levi over with an accusing glare that was cut short when the window was snapped closed right in front of him and Levi disappeared up the ladder. Eren didn't let himself wonder if he'd gone too far. Levi was the one in the wrong, Eren had no doubt, except he kind of did, so he called Armin and told him to get his ass over here right fucking now. 

"What's wrong?" was the first thing out of Armin's mouth when Eren opened the door. Eren just waved his arms about his head and sighed.   
"Ah," Armin nodded knowingly, closing the door behind him. "So you've made up your mind?"  
"He's an absolute dick!" Eren threw his arms in the air one final time before dropping back over the armrest onto the sofa.   
"What did he do?" Armin asked, going straight to the kitchenette to make himself some tea. "You want a coffee?"

" _Bitte_ ," Eren confirmed before beginning his loud tirade. "So this absolute jerkface came down at goddamn five this evening to tell me to turn down the music, he didn't even ask, I fucking opened the window and I was verbally attacked! All this bull about how all German kids listen to Rammstein or some shit!"  
"Eren, you're wearing a Rammstein shirt," Armin sighed.   
"That's not the point!" Eren knew that was a point. "The point is I will play my goddamn music at five in the afternoon if I fucking want to and I hope you can fucking hear me, Levi!" Eren pointed at the ceiling and received a dull thud from above in return.

"If you're so sure of yourself?" Armin asked, handing Eren the mug. "Why call me over."  
"I called him a goth chick with a penis and he left," Eren sheepishly told his coffee. "Is that going too far?"  
"That depends on what he finds offensive really," Armin shrugged. "You'd have to apologise to find out."  
"Yeah, well he has to apologise for the abuse he gave me over some fucking music," Eren muttered bitterly.   
"You know, there could be other people in the building on night-shifts, maybe he's on night-shift?" Armin suggested, so helpful it was unhelpful. 

Eren still didn't meet Armin's eye. He was regretting asking the level-headed shit over. He was too right. Shrugging, Eren sipped his coffee and sighed blissfully. "I'll apologise when I'm calmer," he said, gazing lazily at the coffee table and having his maths copy catch his eye. "Hey, up for a walk?"  
"I just made tea," Armin said flatly.   
"We'll bring it," Eren stood, mug in hand and made his way to the front door, rather than the window for the sake of his friend's tea. 

"I actually want to show you something," Eren said, pulling his jacket tighter over himself as they left the building. "I did something."  
"Something?" Armin took a sip from the mug, feeling awkward walking down the rows of houses with a mug in hand. "What thing?"  
"You'll see," Eren grinned. He walked slowly, one arm across his ribs and the other clutching his own mug. Armin sighed and didn't mention the commonplace signs of a brawl, he just slowed his pace to match Eren's and waited patiently until he got giddy again. 

"Over here!" Eren tried his best to ignore the pain in his ribs as he broke into a slightly faster walk and rounded the corner of a newsagents.   
"We're going shopping?" Armin asked. "That could have waited until after my tea."  
"No!" Eren waved Armin over and then began gesturing towards the wall. "Look at this!"  
Armin ran his eyes down the comic-strip style drawings running down the wall. "Wow," he said. "Did you do this?"  
Eren shook his head. "Only half, he's mine," he said, pointing to the pointy-toothed character and grinning. Then he pointed to the little acrobat man. "That's Corporal."

Armin's brow furrowed. "Who-dee-what?" he asked, sipping his tea.   
"A really awesome graffiti artist. We've been having this back and forth for a while, look," Eren narrated the tale unfolding along the wall, of the monstrous Jeager, attempting to devour the apparent acrobat, Corporal. He dropped cautiously into a crouch and gushed over the collaboration between drinks of coffee. Armin gave his friend a fond smile as he listened to his excited babbling. 

"I'm no where near this dude's level, but he's still responding to my squiggles so, I must be alright, right?" Eren looked up to his friend, in a significantly better mood now.   
"I always thought you were good, but Mikasa would know better than me," Armin smiled. "Y'know, I don't think I've seen you in this good a mood in a long time."  
"Really?" Eren wasn't as surprised as he sounded. Armin just nodded, then nodded towards the wall.   
"Are you going to reply?" he asked. Eren grinned. By now, Corporal had leapt from Jeager's mouth and beheaded him. But, lo and behold, Jeager wielded powers of regeneration, growing another head and swiftly kicking his old one out of Corporal's grip like a soccer ball. 

Armin laughed with a snort and helped Eren up. "Yeah," Eren laughed. "I'm a little beat up today."  
"What did it this time?" Armin asked as they made their way back to the building.   
"Same as yesterday," Eren sighed. To anyone watching, it would have been a strange sight, a couple of boys discussing suburban graffiti over ceramic mugs of coffee at the side of the road, before one rising to haul the other away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, constructive criticism is used as writing fuel <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inexplicably difficult to write, I don't even know. It's written though!

A week later, the rain had cleared up, and despite being able to see his own breath, Levi was out and painting as soon as he saw the forecast.   
"I'm going to be shitting ice for a week," he grumbled to himself. The woman beside him cackled.   
"Oh, Levi," she grinned. "You're sense of humour is as _shitty_ as always!"  
"Fuck off, Hanji," he threw her a quick glare before putting his focus back in to the sharp, mechanic sweeps of his arm as he censored the filth on the grimy, crumbling factory wall. 

"Fine," she wiggled her eyebrows. "You can carry your paints home yourself!" Levi looked from the cardboard box of spray cans to Hanji's smirking, bespectacled face and frowned.   
"I'm fuckin' sorry," he grumbled and Hanji grinned in triumph. Levi threw his can at her and she ducked swiftly, all too used to the treatment. 

"You covered up all the dicks yet?" she asked, giggling, because she's a very mature lady. Levi growled behind his bandana.   
"Almost," he said. "I really fucking hate brats drawing their genitals all over everything. For one thing it's grotesque, and for another, most of this was probably girls." He violently covered up the last of the genital gallery with a flourish, stepping back to appreciate his work. A 1950s style mother, wagging her finger angrily with an accusing eye. The speech bubble next to her declared "No one has a three-foot penis, trust me, I've looked."

Hanji cackled away as Levi sorted his cans back into the box, lifting it onto his shoulder with ease.   
"She has wings?" Hanji enquired once she was calm again.   
"Everything I draw has wings. C'mon," he said. "Before anyone finds us."

They made their way from the factory's ruins to Hanji's ancient Ford Focus.   
"Petra wanted me to try and convince you to-"  
"No." Levi cut his friend off and slammed the car's trunk shut. Hanji watched the slight man turn away from her and get in the car, muttering about dusty seats. She sighed and adjusted her glasses before she got behind the wheel to take her diva home.   
"She thinks it'd be good for you," Hanji tried after a few minutes, laced heavily with silence. Yellow light flashed through the window in waves as they passed street lamps, casting dramatic shadows over Levi's face when Hanji glanced over to check on him. The painful silence remained and Hanji sighed. 

"She's worried about me taking a step back," Levi muttered finally, his voice sounded hollow even compared to the silence.   
"She just wants you to be able to support yourself, we all do," Hanji kept her eyes on the road but offered Levi a quick squeeze of his thigh. "We want you to take care of yourself."

"I am, goddammit," he hadn't meant to shout, but Hanji already knew that. She just kept driving, didn't mention his unemployment, didn't mention his knowing two people and she didn't mention that he was still living alone in his crumbling one bedroom apartment. An apartment beneath which, Eren Jeager lay sprawled across the floor on his belly, almost reading homework and jotting down answers every now and then, when the thick, foggy mental block lifted. 

Loud music jolted through the back of his skull, facilitated by the tiny earbuds in his ears. He declared his homework finished halfway through with a sigh. Maths was too difficult, English was backbreaking, in short, school was a pressure-cooker and Eren needed nicotine. He rose slowly to the tune of cracking bones and grabbed his pack and hoodie from the sofa, bundling up and cautiously climbing out the window. It was late, maybe eleven at night, but Eren wasn't organised enough to check, he'd rather not think about how much time he spent "doing homework". It looked like he was smoking before he even lit up, as his breath condensed before him. 

A car door slammed somewhere in the distance, and from the road at the end of the alley appeared Levi, a cardboard box over one shoulder. Trailing behind him was a woman, talking with animated movements. Eren's nose crinkled at the man's presence. He never did apologise to the man, feeling progressively awkward about the whole thing until he decided Levi had been in the wrong anyway. Eren finished his cigarette quickly, about to go inside. 

"Oi, brat!" Levi called from below. "Some help?"  
 Eren glared down at him.   
"Why sh-" he started, then he saw the woman struggling to pass a cardboard box up the ladder to him. Eren sighed, cursing himself as he climbed down the ladders to the first level, coming face-to-face with Levi's pinched expression. Sort of. Levi was a bit short for that, really. 

"I'm only helping your cranky old ass for your friend's sake," Eren descended the last ladder, still glaring up at the short, steely-eyed man. "I got that," he told the woman, taking the box and heaving it up to Levi's waiting hands. Being kind of lanky was helpful sometimes, Eren thought.   
"Thank you!" Hanji took Eren's hand, shaking it with an enthusiasm that made Eren smile and his shoulder hurt. "You should come upstairs with us, as a thank you! I'll make you coffee!"  
"It's my coffee, shithead," Levi called from his perch above them, but Hanji ignored him. She gave Eren a gentle push towards the ladder.   
"I make a killer cup of tea if you'd rather," she babbled. "Sometimes we call Levi Ramona Flowers 'cause he's got a shit ton of teas."

Eren laughed despite Levi's glare, or maybe because of it. Hanji could hold conversation enough for herself and Levi as well. She was excitement personified, it seemed and Eren liked it.   
"I think I'd like that, yeah," he said, helping them heave the box up another level.   
"Are you all forgetting that it's my apartment?" Levi's eyebrow twitched. Eren snorted.   
"Nope!" he chimed. "You owe me, anyway."  
"For what?" Levi took the box as it was passed to him.   
"Being a dick yesterday!"  
"How was I a-"  
"Girls, girls!" Hanji waved one arm about while using the other to cling to the ladder. "I take it this is Eren then."

Levi put up his hands, motioning her to just stop. He closed his eyes and slowly lowered one hand to his pocket, flipping open a cigarette packet and taking one, putting it in his mouth and lighting it. Every motion was slow and calm, neither Hanji or Eren dared speak. He took one deep drag, releasing it over the crumbling railing.   
"Hanji," he said, eyes still closed.   
"Yes?"  
"You invited a stranger into my home.."  
"Yees..."  
"Without knowing so much as his fucking name?" Levi was still calm, so calm it was unsettling, while Hanji seemed completely oblivious.   
"I know now," she said flippantly. "And now I know you two need to chat over a cuppa because neighbour who don't get along, well that just isn't Christian!"

"You aren't Christian and mocking religions is rude," Levi said, for lack of an actual argument. Why bother with Hanji?   
"I'm not being malicious," Hanji waved her hand at him before climbing up to him and Eren, finally reaching Levi's floor. She let herself in through the window and made a bee line for the kettle. Eren stood awkwardly next to Levi as he finished his smoke. 

"Why are you coming in?" he asked, in a tone that suggested he didn't care.   
"To bother you," Eren's tough front said. It crumbled under Levi's heavy gaze and Eren sighed before answering truthfully. "We're out of coffee."  
"Are you fucking with me?" Levi asked incredulously. "You're a little shit. A shitty little shit."  
Eren couldn't do much but blink at the aggravated little man. As he prattled about Eren being a shitty little shit, he waved his arms about himself like some stereotyped caricature of a French cartoon character, expressing himself with his hands as his words failed him.   
"Okay," Eren shrugged when Levi finished his shit-talk, not really having listened. 

While he was not listening, Eren's eyes had wandered, falling on the cardboard box he'd heaved up ladders, without even questioning its content.   
"If you had me carting drugs," Eren said, looking at the box carefully. "I'll fucking kill you and steal your food."  
Levi snorted, tossing his spent cigarette to the alley. "I wouldn't let a dope like you carry such valuable cargo." Eren made a face behind Levi's back as he slipped in the window, calling back to Eren telling him to pass in the box.   
"What's in it?" Eren asked. Levi scoffed.   
"Your head if you don't fucking pass it in," he said. Eren rolled his eyes before he complied, muttering about the things he'd do for a cup of fucking coffee. 

It was so much warmer inside, thanks to a little oil heater sat beside a fan in the middle of the room. "That's really smart," Eren said before he realised and Levi rolled his eyes.   
"I'm not just a pretty face," he said, leaving the box just inside the bedroom door. Hanji cackles from the kitchen.   
"Haw haw," Eren replied flatly, sitting on the couch without need for invitation.   
"Who said you could sit on my fucking sofa?" Levi tipped himself over the bock of the sofa, landing upside down beside Eren, glaring up at him.   
"I did," Eren returning Levi's glare head on. "What's in the box?"  
"No," Levi's glare intensified.   
"Why?"  
"My box."

"Don't mind Levi, Eren," Hanji said, bringing a tray from the kitchenette to place on the immaculate coffee table. "He's four years old."  
"That's a stretch, I'd say," Eren took the mug Hanji handed him.   
"Levi's no stretch."  
"You're talking over me again," Levi told them. "You're both dicks."  
"You're a dick," Eren said.   
"You're drinking my coffee right now and you're calling me a dick," Levi quirked an eyebrow. Hanji sat on the arm chair to Eren's right, looking rather amused with the whole thing. 

"Hanji?" Eren asked, sounding so polite so suddenly that Levi almost wretched beside him.   
"Yes Eren, dear?"  
"What was in the box?" he was batting his fucking eyelashes and Levi was getting closer and closer to finding a bucket. Hanji curled up on the chair.   
"Tampons," she said. "For Levi. You see, he's on a constant PM-"  
Levi threw a cushion at her face, his aim spot-on. "Spray paint," he gritted out. "Fucking spray paint."  
"For graf-" Eren was silenced by another cushion, aimed at him this time.   
"For stencil art," Levi trained a stern eye on the boy, glaring away any questions that might have been building up in Eren's mind. The unwavering glare had him glued to the sofa, but it couldn't cure his verbal diarrhea. 

"Got any tips?" his mouth said and Levi did no more than raise an eyebrow.   
"You want spray painting tips?" Levi crossed his legs.   
"Yeah?"  
"At least _sound_ sure, brat," he rolled his eyes.   
"Yeah, yeah I do," Eren's mouth was running full steam ahead as the tiny, sane part of his mind screamed no, because once Eren started, he didn't fucking stop.   
"Fine," Levi said. "Move your arm from your shoulder. Keep a steady pace. Invest in different caps. Google is your friend."

Eren blinked at Levi's sharp tone and guessed that was all he was getting. "Can I see yo-"  
"No."  
 _God dammit verbal diarrhea now is not the fucking time,_ Eren groaned inwardly. Hanji watched on with an amused look from her perch in Levi's armchair. Eren sank back into the sofa, apparently the only one who noticed the awkward atmosphere. Suddenly, he couldn't wait to get home to his maths homework. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comment or critique whatsoever is completely welcome <3 This has been read and reread so if there are errors, I tried! D:


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't quite know what I'm at here, but I like this chapter, so here you go! It's unbeta'd but thoroughly read through, 'cause I'm too eager for my own good.  
>  Also I realized I've been spelling Jaeger wrong so I've fixed it for this chapter and I'll go back on the rest of them once I'm on a computer.   
>  Anyway, happy Halloween, lads. May the spoop be with you <3

Chapter 6

Levi caught the boy red-handed. Literally. Eren was sat on his windowsill, half in, half out of his apartment with bright red hands.    
"Who did you kill," Levi asked, halting his ascent.   
"I was painting," Eren shrugged, not making eye contact.   
"Finger painting?" Levi raised an eyebrow. Eren shrugged again.   
"It's fun," he said simply, finishing off his smoke and dropping it after checking if anyone was below.  He looked up at Levi, then, in all his black-clad glory. His scarf was pulled up over his nose and his dark hood pulled far over his head. 

"Why are you dressed like an emo ninja?" Eren asked blandly.   
"No one's used the word emo in three years," Levi grunted. "And I'm a cold creature."  
Eren nodded, looking back to the window frame.   
"The fuck is wrong with you?" Levi asked, leaning back against the fire escape railing, the studs on his belts hitting off the bars with a metallic clank.   
"Do you care?" Eren's eyebrows shot past his hairline.   
"Humour me."  
"I got in trouble at school," Eren picked at the paint on his hands. "This ass-face, Jean, he keeps making these really vulgar comments about Mikasa. So I floored him."   
Levi made a soft noise of approval. "I probably would have done the same," he said. "And gotten what, suspended?"  
Eren hummed. "Nah. Just another note home. They're not getting it back though."

"You're a shit," Levi sighed.   
"You're a dick," Eren shrugged.   
"You are what you eat."   
Eren nearly choked on his own tongue, ending up coughing and spluttering.   
"Don't be gross," Levi said, the bridge of his nose creasing.   
"Sorry," Eren wheezed. "Got a shock." Levi snorted at the kid.   
"Got a problem?"  
"What? No!" Eren put his hands up and almost fell backwards through the window.   
"Good, otherwise I'd have to tie dye all your clothes in the middle of the night."  
"That's an unusual threat," Eren looked back at him with an innocently furrowed brow.   
"It's not an empty one," Levi burdened Eren with a steady gaze and narrow, black framed eyes. He felt a chill roll down his spine and couldn't quite remember the mechanics of speech. 

"Eren!" Mikasa called, shutting the apartment door with a small bang. "I'm home!"  
"Hey, Mikasa," Eren stuck his head in through the window to throw his sister a smile as she fussed around the kitchen area, putting away groceries and putting on the kettle. Levi peered past Eren to see the girl approaching from the kitchenette. He took the scarf away from his mouth, not flinching at the onslaught of cold air.   
"You two are not siblings," he pointed at the two, elbow bent. Mikasa swung one leg over the windowsill and sat facing Eren.   
"Nope, I was adopted," Mikasa told him. "You're Levi then?"  
"And you're Mikasa," he offered her a polite nod. "Not Mikasa Ackerman?"

Eren felt Mikasa go rigid beside him. "Why?" she asked.   
"My friend, Petra, is a visual communications teacher," Levi pulled the scarf back over his nose, feeling the cold again. "She talks about her students a lot."  
Mikasa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.   
"Good things, I hope."  
"You have friends?" Eren looked legitimately stunned and Levi could do no more than roll his eyes to the heavens.   
"Yes, shit-for-brains, I have friends," he sighed. "I think I'll take my leave now." Levi swung around the ladder with one hand and resumed his ascent with the other. 

"That was oddly graceful," Mikasa commented once he was gone.   
"Yeah, actually," Eren furrowed his brow. "I'm going out tonight, by the way, wanna come?"  
"Where? With who?" Mikasa's face was calm while her voice was urgent.   
"Marco's," Eren said, hands up in defense. "You know him, freckles, brown hair, modern day Jesus minus the beard."  
"Oh, Marco, he's nice," Mikasa nodded. "I'll go."   
It was quiet for a few moments, while they sat in silence, peering out over the sill. 

"'kasa?" Eren asked. "Why'd you get so nervous?"  
"What?" Mikasa swung her head back to stare wide-eyed at the boy. "I don't _get_ nervous, dipshit."  
"Mikasa, I'm no fucking dip," Eren said and Mikasa pinched him for swearing.   
"Hypocrite," he muttered.   
"Shut up," she said, curling up on the sill. "I just don't like the idea of people knowing me more than I know them."  
"Oh, I get it," Eren nodded. "I'm gonna go get ready."  
Mikasa watched her brother go, trying not to notice all the little details that were ripping her conscience in two, trying not to notice how that T-shirt was never that loose on him before, how he didn't need a belt for those jeans last month but now they were falling down on him, how he looked so, so tired. The worst part was how he never complained. She pulled her knees closer to her chest. The last of her paycheck had literally bought them the bare necessities, which was slowly becoming potatoes and toothpaste. She leaned her head back against the window frame with a dull thud. 

Her worries were interrupted by echoing clinks and clanks from above as Levi hopped out his window, belts missing and a black messenger bag acquired.   
"Going on a burglary?" she quipped.   
"Something has to pay for my red carpet fashion sense," he called back, not missing a beat as he dropped down from storey to storey. _And he called_ Eren _a shit_ , Mikasa smiled softly. 

Levi dropped down to the gravel, not too bothered with the ladders. The soles of his boots crunched beneath his feet as he sauntered off, out of the dim alleyway and into the busy street. He headed straight for his destination, trying desperately not to touch anyone on the heavily populated street. He didn't know the last time any of these filthy things had showered and judging by the neighbourhood, it was probably never. 

It had been maybe three days since the Jaeger brat had swung Levi's Corporal around in circles like some pathetic lasso, only to have him fling his dual swords into Jaeger's eyes rendering him sightless. The guy was creative, Levi would give him that, but the felt-tip he'd been using proved him a dumbass. Half the strip was nearly washing away after the down pour and Levi took it upon himself to fix the shitstain's mistakes. 

Rounding the corner of the newsagents, he glanced through the window to see who was working. The old man behind the counter was too senile _to_ work, in Levi's opinion and he rounded the corner without hesitation. What he found though, made him stop. 

The collaboration of black inks was no longer just that. There was red, blood, tastefully littered over the piece in streaming patterns, designs Levi never imagined he would give the other artist credit for.   
"Shit," he muttered. " _Shit_."  
Below, in the scrawl he'd come to know, was written:

"I thought we could use a bit more colour." - Jaeger. 

Levi, still in a slight shock, took a paint pen from his bag and began going over the lines to the best of his ability. 

"Colour's great, but get yourself a decent pen, you dope." - Corporal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and criticisms are always welcome, nO fLmMmZzzz. 
> 
> Happy Halloweeeeen~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm am so sorry for the long wait, the chapter was just so hard to write (and I'm still not happy with it, but I don't think I could do any better or now), also, I've never been to a high-school-party-thing, hell, I've mever been to a high school, I'm irish :L
> 
> Also, this chapter isn't betad, but I read over it five million thousand times, so hopefully it's okay. Enjoy lads!
> 
> And for anyone interested, Or bothered, I'm galacticcoffee on Tumblr as well :3

Music thrummed through the house, obnoxious and loud and obviously not Marco's idea. Eren sat with him on his kitchen counter as people milled through, grabbing drinks and food, letting the noise gain clarity as doors opened and then muffle again as they slammed shut.  

"I take it Jean picked the play list," Eren joked.   
"Yeah," Marco nodded, offering a small laugh as he picked at his beer bottle. "He chose the venue too."  
"You're too good to him, Marco," Eren sighed.   
"No, not really," Marco shrugged. "He's a good-"  
Whatever Marco had planned to say was cut short by an unsteady horse as he cantered his way through the kitchen, landing on Marco with a splash of beer.   
"'ey, Marco," Jean failed to poke his friend's nose, but succeeded in prodding his molars. "You're lookin' good tonight."

"You were saying?" Eren wrinkled his nose at his inebriated classmate and edged further away from them across the sleek marble countertop. Marco sighed and pulled his friend's hand from his mouth.   
"It's not Jean's fault he's such a gay drunk," he said and Jean frowned.   
"Whatever, he's still the one getting drunk," Eren glanced at the two, Jean draped across Marco, standing between his legs as they dangled off the counter. Eren hopped down, bringing his can with him into the living room-come dance floor. Marco gave him an apologetic look as he left. 

The bass dropped and Eren could feel it in his chest, the heavy beat tugging his heart down in time. He tried to enjoy feeling the thudding sounds as he passed throngs of his class-mates, trying not to be pulled collar-first into the fray. There was a dull buzz in his head and a warm burn in his throat. Kids were off to the sides of the room playing spin the bottle and Eren wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw a Dungeons and Dragons setup to his left. He furrowed his brow and pressed forward, making it to the calmer atmosphere of Marco's sparsely inhabited conservatory in one piece, to join Connie, Sasha and Ymir.

"Eren!" Connie patted the wicker seat beside him in invitation. "Enjoying yourself?"   
"Yeah," Eren sighed. "Then Jean showed up."  
 Connie tutted, lifting his beer from the glass coffee table and taking a swig.   
"Ever the hot head," he said.   
"I know!" Eren rolled his eyes.   
"I was talking about you."

Their audience erupted in laughter and Sasha rolled off the sofa, onto the wooden floor. Eren stuck his tongue out at Connie, for lack of an intelligent response. 

"It's true though, Eren," Ymir laughed from her corner, the corner of homo, someone would call it when Christa arrived later. "You flare up like that!" she snapped her fingers.   
"And you'd know all about that, you're as bad!" Sasha threw a peanut at her from the bowl on the table, then stared forlornly as she realised the great waste.   
"Oh yeah, didn't you throw a desk out a window last week?" Eren asked.   
"My lawyer says I didn't," Ymir shrugged. Sasha giggled from her spot on the floor. 

Eren drained the last of his can before standing and stretching.   
"Gonna get more booze," he said. "Smell you later!"  
The air in Marco's living room was stifling, and hit you like a stale, sweaty wall. Expensive looking sofas were pushed to the walls of the room and littered with bodies, snoozing mostly, while the crowd in the middle kept at their mildly frightening excuse for dancing. Apart from one couple on the armchair in the corner, who were huddled close together to battle the volume of the music.   
"Mikasa?" Eren swayed a little as he stood still for too long, staring at his sister as she huddled with some tall blonde dude whispering sweet nothings or imitating cold penguins or whatever the kids were doing these days. Eren shrugged and left them to it, Mikasa was capable if anything. 

The sight that greeted him in the kitchen, however, was one not simply shrugged off.   
"What the fuck?!" Eren yelled at the offending sight.   
Jean pulled his head up from between Marco's legs as the befreckled man propped himself up on his elbows to look Eren in the eye and swear, because fuck, he was just caught on the receiving end of a gay-as-hell blowjob on his own counter. 

"In the kitchen?" Eren rubbed his eyes as he backed out the door, speaking more to himself than the occupied couple. "Really?"  
As he was backing out of the kitchen, Eren bumped into Mikasa's tall blond friend who grabbed Eren's shoulder and swung him around, totally unfazed by the antics on the counter.   
"Hey, Eren right? Mikasa told me to tell you she went ahead home," he looked kind as he held out a hand for Eren to shake. "Reiner, by the way."  
Eren nodded.   
"She's okay?" he furrowed his brow.   
"Yeah, yeah of course," Reiner told him and Eren decided he wasn't lying. He seemed trustworthy, as trustworthy as the boys behind him were _loud_.  
"Excuse me," Eren dipped around Reiner and made for the front door, obviously not getting any more drink out of the night. 

It was the thirtieth of November now, and windy enough to chill Eren's bones as he trudged home through water-logged suburban streets, making his way towards the border between suburbia and bustling main streets where his crumbling apartment stood. A few more streets, he reckoned, before he got home to his welcoming sofa, a warm fleece throw and a whole night ignoring the homework piled up on the coffee table. Eren pulled his jeans up as they slipped lower on his hips again, they'd fit him last week -he thought to himself - they'd been tight last month. Eren shrugged off the brief thought as a hissing noise and a metallic clink drew him out from his curious thoughts and he peered down an alley to his right. 

In the light cast through the thin curtains of a window Eren could see a dark slim figure painting the wall, a messenger bag full of cans swinging below their hip. Eren squinted to see a face but the figure's dark hood was up, obscuring his view. 

"Hey!" Eren waved, because approaching strangers alone at night is always a brilliant idea. The figure turned, probably wide-eyed, but Eren couldn't see. The person swung around, running towards the fire escape and leaping to catch it and climb up the levels to the roof. Eren chased the painter until he reached the painting itself and swore loudly, stopping dead in his tracks. 

Three angels flew up the grimy brick wall, their robes rolling and curling together in an array of blues. Their wings were a mismatch of bright white and deep navy.   
"Fucking Corporal," Eren breathed, stepping back out of the alley to finish his trek home, muttering to himself about how _close_ he'd been to meeting Corporal and how far away Marco lived. 

By the time Eren was climbing to his own window the buzz in his skull hadn't left. He hummed to himself as he climbed the ladders, swaying slightly. The climb seemed so much longer after a few drinks - probably because he had to be extra careful, Eren figured. Eventually he stood upright and staggered towards the window to open it and crawl inside head first, landing on the floor with a heavy thud and an unearthly groan. 

"Mikasa?" he mumbled, getting himself up off the ground and wandering towards the bathroom, stretching his arms high above his head as he went, feeling the refreshing pull in his sides. Something was amiss, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

While Eren was contemplating odd vibes in his apartment, Levi was sprinting home, cursing the little shit for the heart attack he almost gave him. By the time his boots were clanging against tough metal rather than thumping against watery streets, he was out of breath, wanting nothing more than a scalding hot shower. Approaching his own window, Levi stopped right in his tracks, eyes wide, and he rushed to grab the shitty craft knife from his messenger bag. The window was fucking open, the window was wide open and he hadn't left it that way. 

Levi's heart was in his throat as he slipped silently through the window, toeing off his boots to step, almost soundless across old creaky floorboards. Holding his breath he made his way across his sparsely decorated apartment, coming to a stop outside the bathroom door he hadn't left ajar and the buzzing ceiling light he hadn't left on. Levi pressed himself against the wall, trying to breathe slowly. He edged his hand towards the edge of the door, pushing it slightly to peer in, seeing the toilet and the sink just as he'd left them; immaculate. 

Pushing the door open fully, Levi slid inside, leaning back on his left leg, readying the craft knife against-  
"Fucking Eren," Levi growled, tossing the knife to the ground with a huff and glaring at the boy snoozing in his bath, cuddled up to a rubber ducky and a bottle of shampoo. Levi sighed, kicking the matt up out of frustration, and resigned himself to grabbing a blanket and a pillow for the little shit and taking his shoes off for him. Why the brat was sleeping in his bath, he didn't know, nor did he have the courage to question. Levi left and returned swiftly with his one spare blanket and a cushion from his couch, turning the bath into a makeshift bed. 

Leaning over Eren to tuck the cushion behind him, Levi smelled alcohol. He wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes. Putting the blanket over Eren, Levi noticed just how warm the kid was, yet he still screwed his eyebrows together as he grasped blindly for the blankets, and more warmth. 

"I'd move you," Levi mumbled, to himself really. "But fuck that. I wanna see your reaction in the morning."   
Levi almost ran a hand through Eren's hair on some wild, insane impulse, but stopped himself and swore quietly.   
"Fucking shit head," he muttered, straightening up and leaving, taking the knife with him and turning the light off on his way. "G'night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, any constructive criticism or any comments at all really, are totally welcome! 
> 
> Really sorry for any silly mistakes!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, lads. Honestly, I was drawing instead of writing because I'm terrible. 
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes!
> 
> And Merry Christmas everybody! I hope Santy's good to ya!

Chapter 8

Vaguely, Eren could tell his back hurt, it wasn't soft, something wasn't soft. Something else was, his head, was on a soft something. His right arm, that was asleep. He could feel a dull buzz at the tips of his fingers. Eren tried to roll over, but the shape of his new bed wouldn't let him. Why would Mikasa buy him such a bad bed? Mikasa didn't buy him a bed. She was playing music in the kitchen, though not her usual stuff.  

Eren gave up and opened his eyes, he was somewhere white and plastic. It smelled of bleach. He was in the fucking bath, dammit. He groaned and tried to roll over again, skin pulling uncomfortably against plastic. At least Mikasa had had the courtesy to give him a blanket. A new blanket? He sat up, his back cracking, sounding far more painful than it was. Looking around, Eren drew his eyebrows together. This wasn't his bathroom, it looked like his bathroom, but it wasn't. 

Getting out of the bath quietly, he found his runners by the tub and yanked them on. The music was still playing and he heard conversation, a man and a woman. Where the fuck was he?  
"Hello?" he asked more than greeted, as he poked his head around the door. The apartment was familiar; sparsely furnished, clean as detergent itself and featuring a cranky little fellow with a  life-threatening taste in studs at the counter. 

"About time you woke up, Ackerman," Levi said from the kitchen, facing away from Eren and his lady-friend on the sofa to make coffee.   
"What did I do?" Eren asked, eyes wide, blurting it out so fast his words melded together and Levi took a moment to process them before he swung around, much too gracefully for this hour on a Saturday afternoon, to give the wide-eyed, slack-jawed boy a withering look.   
"You fell asleep in my fucking _bath_ , that's what," he glared then.   
"Language, Levi!" the woman on the sofa crossed her arms.   
"Sorry," Levi took the three mugs and brought them around the countertop that separated his kitchen and living room, placing them on the coffee table. "Eren, this is Petra."

"Hi, Petra," Eren edged into the room to join her on the sofa. "And uh, Levi, my name isn't Ackerman, it's Jaeger."  
There was an odd pause in the room, then Levi's eyes bulged from their sockets and he keeled over, cheeks puffing as he tried not to spit out his coffee.   
"Shit!" Levi cried as his attempts failed and he spat coffee over himself. "Fuck, shit, what?"  
"Language!" Petra told him, then turned to Eren., who was watching on in confusion "Sorry, Eren."  
"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Levi grunted getting up and wandering off to his bedroom, cursing in French. 

"Eh, is he okay?" Eren asked.   
"Oh, he'll be fine," Petra waved it off. "So you're Eren?"  
"Yeah?" he really didn't like the excited look it her eye. "And you're Mikasa's art teacher?"  
"Yes," she grinned. "And you're Eren _Jaeger_."  
"I'm sorry, uh, miss Petra," Eren hid behind his mug. "But you're scaring me."  
Petra leaned back, giving Eren some space and straightened out her skirt.   
"Sorry," she smiled cheerfully, no trace of mischief left in her eyes. That scared Eren more than anything, really. He was preparing to ask just why she'd been so excited when Levi returned, still muttering to himself.  

 

"You wrecked my shirt, brat," he grit out.   
"How is that my fault?" Eren crossed his arms and glowered at Levi, who could only sigh. _Because you're nothing but a little shit, but apparently you've managed some impressive art and fuck you,_ Levi wanted to say, but then there'd be questions, there'd be the "How do you know?!"s and the "You're Corporal!"s. He didn't need that shit right now.   
"Nothing, kid," Levi sat down. "Drink up."

"Does Mikasa know I'm up here?" Eren asked. Levi shrugged, simply telling Eren he wasn't his personal messenger and really not expecting Eren to leap from his seat and tear out the window, ignoring the December freeze and the fact that there were ladders, opting to jump straight down and then in his own window.   
"Mikasa?" he called. "I'm sorry, I went in the wrong window!"  
His voice echoed back at him in the empty apartment, no worried woman in sight.  
"Mikasa?!" he checked beneath the sofa cushions frantically.   
"Eren?" her voice came from behind him, outside the open window, angered, livid and overall, just plain fucking scary. Eren yelled as Mikasa lunged for him through the window, punching him in the shoulder.   
"You little shit! I just searched this whole side of the fucking town for you!" she growled, pulling him close by the collar. "You know we can't file a fucking missing persons report you dolt."

"I went in Levi's window," Eren told her, shaky as he was forced to look her in the eye. She let him go, face blank, and took a step back, doubling over and clutching her side as she cried with laughter, her anger totally gone.   
"And I, uh, fell asleep in his bath tub," Eren fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Mikasa's laughter took on a new lease of life.   
"Sorry," Eren said finally and Mikasa calmed down.   
"It's alright," she said. "I'll come up with you to thank him."  
"Yeah, and I left a coffee up there," Eren didn't see Mikasa shake her head as he made his way to the window. 

Upstairs, Petra was eying Levi with dangerously Hanji-like glee. Levi squirmed.   
"What?" he snapped from behind his mug-shaped shield, sweater sleeves drawn up to his knuckles.   
"You didn't kick him out last night," she grinned. "And he's _the kid_."  
"So fucking what?" Levi glared sideways at her, over the rim of his coffee mug. 

Petra didn't get to answer though, as Eren returned with his sister in tow.   
"Found her!" he said.   
"Thank you for putting up with my dear dope," Mikasa greeted.   
"No problem," Levi shrugged, getting up to put the damn kettle on _again_. "Coffee?"  
"Please," Mikasa sat down next to Petra.   
"Mikasa! My little prodigy, how are you?" Petra asked.   
"I'm good," she answered, unfazed by being in a room with a woman she owed three essays. 

Eren sat the other side of his sister, picking up his coffee again and finishing it with a sigh.   
"Don't make such filthy sounds on my sofa, brat," Levi glared at Eren as he handed Mikasa a mug.   
"Jealous of the sofa?" Eren shot back and Mikasa cringed beside him, stuck awkwardly between her shithead brother and her Visual Communications teacher, just lovely. 

"Oh!" Eren shot to attention, aided by the caffeine in his system. "Petra! Mikasa told me you complain about Corporal, the graffiti artist!"

Petra snorted and Levi nearly spat out another mouthful of coffee.   
"Yeah," Petra said, smile cheeky. "Good artist 'n' all, but the guy isn't exactly pleasant."  
She guessed Levi's face was more than sour.   
"Well, um, I saw this thing he did," Eren rolled his hands in a frantic gesture. "Like a collaboration thing and I dunno, he didn't seem like a jerk."  
"Really?" Petra raised her eyebrows, wanting to shoot Levi a look, but knowing better. "You seem like a fan."  
"A little," Eren looked to the floor, shrugging. 

"Eren, you're like a schoolgirl," Mikasa said plainly and Petra laughed.   
"Oh Eren, you don't have a crush do you?" Petra fawned over the little tomato.   
Levi couldn't bear to watch anymore and stood, grabbing a packet of smokes off the coffee table.   
"Coming, Ack-Jaeger?" he shook the pack and Eren leapt across the armrest and out the window, leaving Levi to shut it as he followed behind. 

"That was painful to watch," Levi offered Eren one first.   
"Try being in the situation yourself," Eren took one, he held it between his thumb and his index finger, Levi noticed. He held his own between his index and middle finger. 

Levi didn't light Eren's until it was in his mouth, standing close to block the biting wind that swept down through the alley.   
"Try Petra _and_ Hanji," Levi grumbled. "And a fucking dress."  
"What?" Eren looked down at him, shocked.  
Levi snickered, leaning back against the hand rail. "They learned that gay doesn't equal tranny the hard way."  
"I don't know if it's a bad idea to tell you this, but you're a scary little shit," Eren took a drag, then froze, realising what he'd just said.   
"I'm not a little shit," Levi said, too calmly for Eren's liking. "I'm fucking fabulous, you're the little shit. The little shit who's wardrobe is gonna be tie-dyed by morning"  
"Fuck you," Eren mumbled, curling into himself against the cold.   
"You wish you could afford that," Levi smirked, imitating Eren's position. 

Eren wished he owned a coat, he had a few hoodies, but he really needed a damn coat. Levi gave off a little heat beside him, keeping himself warm by hiding his hands in his sweater sleeves, fingers poking out to hold the cigarette. It all looked so feminine, and in such contrast to his face. His expressions seemed to range from bored to angry to somewhat amused. Now, he was bored, staring at the wall with steely eyes. 

"Gay baby," Eren said suddenly and Levi dragged his eyes away from the redbrick wall to give Eren the most unamused look he could muster.   
"Silence does not equate to homosexuality, you little shit," he sighed. "What are you, twelve?"  
"Fuck it," Eren sighed. "I was just trying to start a conversation."  
"I suppose it worked," Levi said. "We're talking, aren't we?"  
"Yeah, I guess so," Eren smiled a little.   
"Are you alright?" Levi asked. "You look dazed."  
"I might still be drunk," Eren shrugged. "Coffee helped though, thanks."  
"No problem," Levi lit another for himself. "I feel like I'm supplying for the entire building now, but whatever."

Mikasa emerged from the apartment then, whisking Eren away to do his homework with a warning from Levi not to play the music too loud. 

"You think he's cute," Petra grinned evilly from her spot on the couch, before Levi was even fully in the window.   
"He _is_ cute," Levi said matter-of-factly, slumping down into his armchair. "He's the cutest piece of shit I've ever seen."  
"Levi," Petra sighed, rubbing her temples.   
"What?"  
"Language."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Criticism is as welcome as compliments! Merry Christmas, sweetie pies!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prodigal author has returned. I am so so sorry about how long this took. School and a whole load of othe things (anime) caught up with me. Thanks though, to everyone who left me comments and messages here and on Tumblr, you guys are the nicest omg <3 and thank you Gabi for making sure this makes an ounce of sense.

Levi didn't know how the shit had convinced him to walk as far as the newsagents with him, but by some unimaginable witchcraft, he had. 

"Why am I doing this?" he asked from behind his scarf, tugging his gray beanie further over his forehead.   
"I need milk," Eren shrugged, giving Levi a sly smile. Smug fucker, getting him to leave his apartment. Levi made a face at him from behind his scarf. 

He sighed in relief at the sight of the shop, he didn't like the cold. In fact, he really fucking hated it. Standoffish shop-keeps and out-of-date packaged goods were a welcome change to possible frostbite.   
"I just wanna check something," Eren walked right past the door and around the corner.   
"Fuck you," Levi growled, following him. "Making me come all this way just to stay out in the fucking cold - what are you doing?"

Eren was on his hunkers, little paint marker in hand, adding to what had become more than doodles.   
"That's pretty damn good, kid," Levi commented, watching him block in shaded areas in black. "It's a nice style."

Eren turned around to him, eyebrows raised. Then his expression turned to a brilliant smile.   
"Thanks," he grinned, then turned and continued. Levi totally wasn't entirely enamoured by Eren Jaeger's face.   
"Is this that collaboration you "saw"?" Levi crouched beside him, raising an eyebrow and Eren laughed.   
"Yeah," Eren laughed. "Don't tell Mikasa or I'm dead."  
"Wouldn't dream of it."  
"Thanks."

Levi pointed to the swirling acrobatic characters. "This is Corporal, then?"   
"Yeah," Eren hopped up. "He's so fucking awesome, I saw this huge thing he did under the bridge in the park a while ago. Damn fuckin' awesome."  
"He? What if Corporal was a girl?"  
"Wha-?" Eren scrambled, dropping and catching the marker in one go.   
"What if he was a she, you sexist pig?"

Eren's ears pinked at the tips. "Never thought of that," he smiled a little.   
"Please don't tell me you have a hero worship crush?" Levi sighed dramatically.   
"Jealous?" Eren smirked and threw Levi a sidewards glance.   
"Fuck off."  
"Fuck no."  
"What if your hero crush was a boy?" Levi shot back and Eren did another double-take. Levi snorted.   
"You snort!" Eren yelled in glee, pointing at Levi excitedly.   
"Shut up and answer the damn question!" Levi scowled, pulling the collar of his pea coat further up. 

Eren put the cap back on his marker and leaned back, rubbing his knees. "I dunno," he said. "It's not like I'm gonna meet them anyway."  
"You're doing art collaborations, but you don't think you're gonna meet him?"  
"Oh!" Eren cried, shocking Levi off his hunkers and ass-first onto the ground. "He is a boy! Petra said so!"  
"Fucking hell, kid," Levi growled, standing up and wincing at his freezing, sore backside. "So, you willing to fuck a dude?"

Eren stared up at him, all shocked green depths and shit; or so Levi would put it.   
"I was kidding, geez," he sighed. "You need milk by the way."  
"I do!" Eren shot up and dashed by Levi, leaving him to stroll behind him into the shop, bell signaling his grand entrance. Levi meandered after him. 

"Where's the pup?" he asked the bored looking lady behind the counter, who, with great effort and willingness to help, glanced pointedly toward the ass hanging out of the fridge.   
"Eren, what the fuck?" he sighed, striding over to the boy and pulling him out by his belt, not caring when the kid hit his head against the cooler's shelf. "There's milk at the front."  
"The new stuff's at the back, later use-by date," Eren huffed, before diving back in and retrieving a carton with a triumphant whoop.   
"You're so strange," Levi told him.   
"No," Eren stood back upright, prize in one hand as he brushed ice from his hair with the other. "I'm smart, it'll last longer this way. Then there's less milk to buy."  
Levi raised his eyebrows, but didn't question further. He hadn't forgotten last week. 

Eren had turned up at his window, looking weird for lack of an accurate word. He just didn't look _right_.   
"What?" Levi opened the window after hearing frantic knocking.   
"Can I come in?" his voice was as off as his expression.    
"Did you do something illegal?" Levi narrowed his eyes, trying to identify the look in Eren's eyes. He shook his head. Shock? Panic? Fear? Panic. 

Levi just stood back and let him in. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, nothing to defend against mid December's unrelenting winds. "What happened?" Levi stood back, gave him room. "Is this an attack?"  
"A what?" Eren looked confused.   
"Panic attack?"  
"I dunno what that is," Eren sat himself down. "Mikasa isn't home."  
Levi sighed and looked to the heavens to blame them for the patience he had never been bestowed with. "What are you, five?" he shot Eren a withering look, the child was a drama queen.   
"She's at work, she told me to come up here if she's late home," Eren ran a hand through his hair. "It's been an hour."

"Want me to take you to her or something?" Levi sat on the coffee table, facing Eren, who shook his head no.   
"Why not?" Levi's voice never lost it's sharp tone.   
"I don't know where she is," Eren said through his fingers as he lay his hand loosely over his mouth. "She called me from a blocked number earlier saying she'd be at work and shit."  
"You're worried?"  
"Yes I'm fucking _worried_!" Eren shouted at the floor. Levi didn't budge or say a word. He let Eren's words fade to a piercing ring in the bare room, let Eren calm down. "It's so weird," he muttered. 

Levi nodded in understanding. "Is this the first time?"   
"No."  
"What do you think's happening?"  
Eren still didn't lift his head, just shrugged pointed shoulder blades.   
"Money's tight," he croaked."She might've taken a weird job or something shady."  
"Would she do that?" Eren flinched at Levi's harsh tone.   
"If it meant I didn't have to," he said in a small voice. 

Levi sighed. This was serious bullshit.   
"Don't tell Petra!" Eren's head shot up. "Please."  
"I'm no idiot, idiot," Levi rubbed circles into his temples. "I wouldn't fuck shit up for her, it seems like she's doing enough of that for herself."  
When Eren didn't attack him, he knew the kid agreed.   
"She could be in deep shit, Eren," Levi caught his eye.   
"I know."

Eren didn't seem to have anything else to say. He just sat, fretting on Levi's couch, letting painfully silent moments pass by.   
"Why didn't you just get a job?" Levi's voice sounded awkward in the still atmosphere. "You're what, eighteen? You're almost out of school anyway."  
Eren ran his hands through his hair and muttered something about being seventeen.   
"If I don't have parental paper shit I can't work for another year," he took his hands away from his head before he could start gripping at his roots. "I told her, I told her I could help my friend with some stuff for some spare cash, but she said 'fuck no'."

Levi stood. "I'd say the same thing, kid. Don't get involved in shit. It doesn't matter what shit, it's called shit for a reason," he strode over to the kitchen and put on the kettle. "I think you need tea today."

"Okay," Eren sat back, then looked over his shoulder at Levi as if he'd just realised something. "You don't mind me being here, do you?"

Pausing, Levi turned around and leaned against the counter top, one slim leg resting across the other. "You're a little shit, and you still play your music too loud," he shrugged. "You were worried though, I guess, and worrying alone in an empty apartment is a kind of shitty time, I know."  
"Thanks," Eren said quietly.   
"Yeah?"  
"For not turning me away."  
"I'm not that much of an asshole," Levi had flicked off the boiling kettle beside him and gone back to work. He'd been out of milk that day. That brought Levi back to the present. 

Eren was waving his hand around in Levi's face.  
"I was just thinking," Levi peered at Eren over his scarf. "If you tell me not to hurt myself I'll slap you."  
"You'd slap me anyway," Eren handed the milk over the girl behind the counter. "Hey," he greeted her warmly. 

"Eren," she nodded her head in acknowledgement. She made the gesture sarcastic, somehow.   
"How's the course?" Eren asked, animatedly. He had the milk back in his hand now and Levi wordlessly willed him to leave.   
"Good," she said, leaning back against the tobacco shelf, where she could look down her softly hooked nose at Eren, as he stood with a carton of milk in his hand, doing his best to be pleasant. "Bye, Eren."

Eren was so taken aback that the look on his face nearly made Levi snort his scarf up his nose. Eren had had no intention of leaving so soon in the first place, but his plans had been cut short by this girl's aloof attitude.   
"Seeya," after too long a moment, Eren played along and left causally, Levi exchanged a knowing glance with the girl on the way out after him. 

"What a ladies man you are," Levi elbowed Eren lightly after they left the shop. "Careful, Corporal might get jealous."  
"Oh, fuck off," Eren rolled his eyes. "I don't see you getting any either."  
"Would you like to see that?" Levi raised an eyebrow.   
"Oh fuck _off_ ," Eren sighed and looked up to the heaven's. Levi just shrugged and they walked on in silence, battling the cold air nipping at their noses.  

"Will Mikasa be there when you get home?" Levi broke the painful silence, so suddenly his voice strained Eren's ears.   
"No, she has class," Eren said, a little proudly.   
Levi nodded, he did not find that endearing. Nope. "What are you doing after school?"   
"Getting a job," he said matter-of-factly, like even though his sister was in a part-time course on a scholarship while juggling jobs, it just wasn't an option for him. As if he couldn't amount to that. It made Levi mad. Inside, he was livid, but all he could bring himself to tell the boy was "Yeah, it was the same for me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again, lads and thank you again <3   
> Catch me on Tumblr if you're bothered, galacticcoffee.tumblr.com
> 
> And here's hoping that flashback wasn't awkwardly written, 'cause it was really awkward to write! 
> 
> Aaand sorry for any and all mistakes!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"It's not _that_ bad, Eren," Armin held Eren's report card in his hand as they walked to Eren's apartment from school. "I mean, you passed most of them."  
Eren squinted at the glaringly bright Christmas lights as they hung, suspended between the crumbling buildings above them. "Mikasa's gonna kill me," he muttered, hands in the pockets of the winter coat Armin had leant him. "She's working so hard, but I can't sit still to study for five fucking minutes."

Armin looked up at his friend. "You're just not an academic person, Eren," he folded the report back up and slipped it into the pocket of Eren's borrowed coat. "If you don't care about it, you don't do it."  
"I need a job out of school though, don't you need grades for that?" Eren's eyebrows furrowed. "And I can't take the look Mikasa's gonna give me."  
"You should have given them a fake home address in the first place," Armin sighed. "Instead of telling them you moved too much, then you wouldn't have gotten the report at all."  
"I can't believe they believed that," Eren let out a breath of a laugh. The white air in front of him sent him digging through his bag pocket for a little square parcel of cigarettes. Armin stepped across Eren to avoid the smoke. 

"Sorry," Eren muttered around the filter. "I'm just fucked."  
"Are you gonna study?" Armin asked carefully, eyes cast down to the broken footpath he walked on. "Only a few months left now."  
"I don't know," Eren said. "My brain just doesn't let me, it's like a sticker, and when I try and study, the sticker loses its stick, until it just can't _stick_ anymore."  
"You could write after school, that's a pretty good simile."  
"What's a simile?" Eren looked at Armin in earnest confusion and Armin didn't know if he should laugh or if he should cry. 

"How's Mikasa been?" he changed the subject, feeling exhausted. "I don't see her much anymore."  
"She got another job," Eren said, a little strained, like he wanted Armin to ask, but he also wanted to not address the topic.   
"What's she doing?" Armin dug a little deeper. Eren shrugged. He took a sharp turn around the corner of the newsagents, nearly leaving Armin behind.   
"So you don't know?" Armin asked, trotting back to Eren's side. Eren let out a little affirmative noise.    
"I don't think it's safe," he said. "But she's still going to college."

Eren kneeled down at the wall by the collaboration. A little chat box had formed between him and Corporal once they agreed their impromptu comic strip was complete. 

_Don't fuckin touch it or you'll wreck it - Corporal_  
Oh my god fuck off - Jaeger  
Fuck no - Corporal 

Armin smiled at it.   
"He's a little shit," Eren let out a little laugh, pulling a marker from his pocket and pressing it to his bottom lip in thought, then he leaned forward to write on the wall. 

_Fuck you - Jaeger_  

"It's not witty or shit, but it'll do," Eren shrugged, standing up.   
"That's a lot of thought for two words," Armin lifted an eyebrow. Eren gave him a look that said 'shut the fuck up' and Armin left it. 

"You changed the subject," Armin said, heading back to the main street again. "How's Mikasa."  
Eren was caught. He looked away, hesitating. "She's been leaving a lot and just not coming back, ever since Marco's stupid party. There's no way I can help for another year either. All I can do is sit at home and do nothing 'cause I'm fucked in the brain."  
"Don't beat yourself up, Eren," Armin hesitated to place a hand on Eren's shoulder, then decided not to touch his friend. "It's not your fault she wants to do this. Have you talked to her about it?"   
"I've tried, but she just leaves," Eren ran his hand through his hair for something to do. "When she leaves I go up to Levi."  
"Coffee goth?"   
"Yeah, him."  
"Will she be there today?" Armin sounded hopeful. "Maybe I could talk to her?"  
"That's an idea," Eren said. "If not, you'll get to meet Levi."  
"You've made that sound like a frightening experience, to be honest," Armin said, though his tone was tense, worried.   
"Armin, what's on your mind?" Eren studied his face, taught in concentration. Armin stopped in his tracks, head whipping towards Eren. The seething look in his eye made Eren step back, made him feel tiny in comparison.   
"How is this _not_ on your mind?" he said, voice steady as if it were made of stone. "She's your sister, and you're doing nothing from what I can see. Don't you even open your mouth and try and tell me you've tried everything 'cause that is _absolute_ crap."  
   
"Oh," Eren couldn't meet Armin's eye, didn't really know what to say. He heard Armin sigh.   
"C'mon," he turned the corner into the alley ahead of Eren. "Let's see if she's home. 

In Eren's mind, Armin had won, because he was right. Eren should be at least as worried as Armin, if not more. Armin didn't think like that though, no all he knew now was that neither of his friends had their heads screwed on straight and he was going to have to-

"Get the FUCK out!" a scream echoed across the space above them.   
"Mikasa!" Eren leapt onto the ladder, barreling up storeys in a blind white rage. He'd left Armin somewhere far behind him, didn't really remember he was there at all. He didn't pay much mind to the tall figure in front of him either, once he'd reached his own railing. It was just a target to threw himself on to the back of, barely registering a shout. Gripping what blond hair he could between his fingers, he shifted his weight, aiming the head towards the railing, only to be flung off like a mechanical bull. 

"Eren!" someone screamed, though he couldn't grasp who. The redbrick of the wall rushed to greet him and he threw out an arm to stop himself. He had to pause then, and managed to take in what was happening around him, Armin wasn't there, Mikasa was guarding the apartment window, pan in hand, and the man he'd been flung from stood looking at him, shocked and pissed and vaguely familiar.

"Oh hey! Eren, what was that for?" the man wiped any anger from his face and smiled easily, managed to look inviting. Mikasa stepped in front of Eren.   
"Fuck off Reiner," she held the frying pan like a baseball bat. "He has nothing to do with you."

That's who he was! A flashback from Marco's party, Mikasa and Reiner huddled in a corner.   
"The fuck did you do to her?!" Eren all but shoved Mikasa out of the way. "I'll kill you!"  
Reiner raised his hands in a lighthearted defence, as if Eren had done no more than tell a mean joke.   
"I'll take that as my cue to leave," he said, waving goodbye to the siblings before backing down the fire escape. As he passed a rigid Armin two stories down, he whistled to himself. Mikasa followed him with her eyes until he was out of sight.   
"Cocky bastard," Eren muttered. 

Armin didn't join his friends until Reiner had gone.   
"I think we all need to sit down and chat," he gave Mikasa a pointed look. If Eren weren't still fuming he might have managed a smug look. 

Upstairs, Petra looked apologetically at Levi from the couch. She had Levi cornered, sitting in his desk chair and hiding behind his sketchbook, frown etched as deeply into his brow as the ink was into the page before him.   
"You don't mention that," Levi said unevenly. He was cornered, but he didn't look vulnerable. He never looked vulnerable. 

"I'm serious Levi, you don't talk to anyone, you don't have a job, how are you even living here?" Petra gestured a hand around the dilapidated apartment. "How are you affording this?" 

Levi hid further in behind his sketchbook. Such a subtle move that it would take Hanji or Petra to know  that despite the controlled look on his face, he was not in control of the situation.   
"I'm offering you a chance to get qualifications, get a job!" Petra leaned forward, animated. Levi twitched.   
"I don't want to sit in on your classes, Petra. I don't need charity."   
With a sigh, Petra sat back. "So what _are_ you going to do with your life?"  
"This," Levi nodded towards the sketchpad in front of him. "I'm gonna draw, lots."

Petra sighed. "Levi, you can't just- you can't just sit here!"  
"It's what I've been doing for years and I'm fine."  
"That's not what I mean and you know it, you were meant to be more than a recluse!"  
"I'm not a recluse, I go out," Levi shrank again, his sketching becoming more erratic. "All the time."  
"Yeah?" Petra leaned toward him again. "With who?" 

Levi took a minute, pretending to be focused on his art.   
"Eren, all the time."  
Petra put her head in her hands and almost laughed. Then from the little seed Levi had given her, an idea came to life in her head. "So bring me with you next time," she said with a smile.  
"Can't at the moment," Levi said flippantly. "He's having domestic issues. You heard them earlier, outside."

As if on clue the voices below them grew to shouts and yells.   
"It's really getting on my nerves to be honest," Levi shrugged.   
"What's wrong?" Petra's brow cinched together in concern, the subject change calming Levi substantially.   
"I can't say I know," Levi lied. "But it's a bit inappropriate to ask him what his Saturday night plans are to be honest." 

Petra hummed, deep in thought for a moment. "Levi?"  
"Yes, my dear?"  
"Did you just lie to me?"  
"I'm going for a shit," and like that, Levi leapt from his chair and strode across the room with the walk of a man who definitely did not need an urgent shit. 

Petra left then, wordlessly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about how long this took, school was hectic and then when that was over life in general was hectic. It's still hectic but hey, things were getting out of hand here. Thank you to everyone who messaged me here and on Tumblr prompting me to keep working on this <3 (And thank you Laura for reading over iiitt). 
> 
> I hope it was worth the wait <3


	11. PSA

I've gotten a few really sweet messages lately and just wanted to post a little explanation as to why I've discontinued this story. 

The response to this fic has been amazing, to be honest I didn't imagine many people would read it at all, so to see so many positive comments and messages on Tumblr has been amazing and I want to thank all of you so much for that. (Also so much thanks to Nollaig and Gabi for proof reading much of this fic)

The reason I've discontinued is, I've changed a lot as a writer and now, looking back at this fic I really can't continue. As I went, I was throwing in odd and ends of half-baked plot points and ideas, with no real plan and I really had no idea of how I was going to end the story. As I write write now, I really can't continue, knowing I'd have so many stray lines to tie up within the story. 

I've learned my lesson from this fic, and what I write in the future will be planned much better, and will hopefully end up finished at some point. 

I do have some clue what might have happened later on, and if any of you have any questions about the story that have been annoying you, you can go ahead and ask me on Tumblr. I'll tell you what's up (if I have a clue myself)

Thank you so much for reading what I have written of this fic. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it at the time. And I am genuinely sorry for being _that_ fan fiction writer.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was decent, please let me know :)


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